Edit: solved. I didn’t look up a secondary meaning for 聞いて. Leaving it for benefit of others.
__________
I just can’t figure out the sentence form.
Saw it in some anki deck.
I understand all the words and particles and kanji here and I know it means “in case you don’t understand, tell me/ask me about it/I’m here/I’ll listen” but I’m trying to tear it apart to understand the use of the sentence format.
聞いて is a “listen” commend (sorry for my english, not native). 私に makes it something like… Idk, “listen to me”?
But when “わからない場合は” is before I understand it’s supposed to be “tell me if you don’t understand” which makes sense but how?
Is it nuanced? Do you just say “listen to me” in japanese to imply someone should ask you? Is the sentence wrong? Am I wrong lol?
3 comments
場合 means a case or situation. わからない場合は means “As for situations you don’t understand…” or “In the case that you don’t understand…”
聞く means both “listen” and “ask.”
聞く pulls double duty as ‘listen’ and ‘ask’.
Thus, ‘I listened to Tarou’ and ‘I asked Tarou’ both become 太郎に聞いた.
Whether it’s just listening or specifically asking a question is usually obvious from context.
You’ll get used to it.
Wow. Why the downvotes. Here’s your upvote.